Thinking about starting a reef.

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Hondatek

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
May 28, 2011
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Virginia Beach
My girl keeps hounding me about clownfish , gobies , and bangaii cardinals. I told her if she pays for everything I'll do it. I'll be moving my discus out of their 45 gallon and into the spare 75 and using the 45 for the reef. I don't know jack about coral lighting or if I need a sump and skimmer. I have a 200 gallon canister filter not in use that I would like to use for this tank . I found a 4 bulb t5 h o fixture but would that keep all corals or just the easy ones? If I break the bank on this one she probably won't want to do it so I need some help. Thanks
 
I would definitely would recommend a protein skimmer, but IMO I don't think a sump is necessary. :)

I will be using an 8 lamp T5HO fixture for my 125g reef, which will grow a good amount of corals, so I think the fixture you picked out will be fine for a 45g. :)
 
Yea i guess the skimmer would make it more stable . I still have to have a long talk with her and make sure she knows what she is getting into or what she is getting me into lol. I like the idea of a reef but I have enough tanks of my own to deal with. I'm going to tell her at least 4-500 bucks to start and hope the sticker shock turns the idea around lol.
 
The sump will add more water volume and make the tank more stable. You can use a canister but will have to keep up with changing the media or you'll have nitrate issues. The lighting depends on what type of corals you want to keep. Though a 4 bulb t5 will have a wide variety of corals it can support.
 
Yea I have a fish only 180 so I know about the sump and stuff. I talked to her and sh doesn't want to spend the 400 plus to do it so it looks like on off the hook
 
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